


Costumes and Façades

by Liara_90



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Character Study, Costumes, Developing Relationship, F/M, Flirting, Fluff and Angst, Halloween, Inspired by Fanart, POV Third Person, Romance, Star Wars References, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 12:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5707939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liara_90/pseuds/Liara_90
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High School AU. Halloween approaches, and star athlete Pyrrha Nikos struggles with self-consciousness as she tries to choose a costume. Particularly one that she thinks her not-quite-boyfriend Jaune Arc will like.</p><p>WAFFy Arkos fic because right now they need something nice together. RWBY and JNPR fluff, and a snapshot of a young Pyrrha's inner struggles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Costumes and Façades

**Author's Note:**

> Going to be honest, second story I've written based on one of mojojoj's drawings of Pyrrha in a costume. I may need help.

When Pyrrha Nikos was fourteen, a dozen athletic records already shattered in her wake, a camera crew from a national news company had spent a day following her around. The segment was supposed to show what a 'day in the life' was for 'an inspiration to young girls everywhere'.

It had been about as awkward as she'd expected. Four men in black jeans and t-shirts shadowed her every step with cameras that weighed almost as much as she did; a young woman touched up her makeup before she went down for breakfast. Strangers looking through her closet and asking what kind of bras she wore when she jogged, which teachers were nice, which boys she thought were cute. It had been unnerving and invasive, the young Pyrrha too shy to say 'no' and too timid to demand boundaries to their inquiries. She loved her body, loved the Olympian physique and the cords of muscle that were her rewards for countless hours in the gym, but being asked to pose and flex made her feel like a creature in the zoo, a spectacle to be gawked at. When the piece finally aired it fueled gossip for months, her teachers and classmates all suddenly aware that she couldn't name a member of The Achieve Men and that she needed to shower twice a day, learned of the comic books that Pyrrha had once enjoyed reading in the solitude of her room.

The one part of that day that Pyrrha actually _did_ enjoy occurred during her lunch break, when the cameramen had followed her to the small field attached to her school where she and her friends killed time waiting for the bell. It was the one segment where Pyrrha really _wanted_ to talk, not about what her parents expected of her or whether boys found her intimidating, but about her _friends_. For once in her life she wouldn't shut up, flashing an entirely-unfeigned smile to the cameras as she reflected on her social circle.

There was Yang Xiao Long, the bombastic blonde, and her whiz kid-of-a-sister Ruby. There was Weiss Schnee - you might have heard a few of her songs - and Blake Belladonna, half-hiding behind some manga she didn't want the world to know she read. Ren, the soft-spoken martial arts enthusiast; and Nora, his antithesis and better half. And then there was Jaune-

Pyrrha's tongue tied itself in a knot as she introduced the last member of her social octet, a noodly teen with scruffy blond hair and too much acne and a habit of tripping over and into things. Jaune shifted uncomfortably as Pyrrha started and restarted her sentence a half-dozen times, before managing to stammer out something to the effect of 'and my _best_ friend, Jaune'. Both of them had blushed red at that, before one of the news crew asked if she wouldn't mind playing some Ultimate Frisbee with others students on the field.

None of Pyrrha's friends had made it into the final broadcast, but she'd treasured the moment all the same...

…"I can't believe you've never celebrated Halloween before!" Nora exclaimed, her voice somewhere between a gasp and a yell. "Halloween is our most _sacred_ holiday, it's at the very core of what it means to breathing and free and _alive_! I mean I guess if you were raised in a refugee camp or something but even then how hard can it be to make a cape out of-" 

With a tilt of his head Ren recaptured Nora's attention, positioning himself in front of the redhead's verbalized stream-of-consciousness. Pyrrha flashed a small grin at that, his limitless patience never ceasing to stupefy her, but it was beautiful all the same. Whatever they had going for them, it worked.

"I have to agree with Nora on this one," said Yang, a plastic fork spearing something that was legally fit for human consumption. The Beacon High cafeteria left a few things to be desired, which was why Pyrrha always ended up bringing a lunch from home. "Like how can you be seventeen years old and never have gone trick-or-treating?"

Pyrrha shrugged slightly at that, swallowing another carrot. "My parents didn't like me staying up late. Disrupted my sleep schedule," she explained, to a panorama of skeptical expressions. "Also the candy you receive isn't very good for you, so it doesn't really make sense for me to collect it." Pyrrha shifted awkwardly on the hard wooden seat of the cafeteria's chairs, before putting on a forced smile. "But that just means… more for the rest of you?"

Yang snorted derisively at that, while her half-sister wore an expression of genuine concern. Even Weiss, literally the _last_ person to partake in anything she perceived as juvenile, looked puzzled. "My Father's pretty strict, but even _he_ let me go trick-or-treating," she said.

"I find it hard to imagine Mr. Schnee taking you door-to-door," chimed in Blake, demonstrating that she'd been following the conversation even with her nose in a book.

Weiss let out a cough that sounded like it had a note of awkwardness in it. "Well, it was actually Wadsworth who took me," she said, joining Pyrrha at the Awkward-Halloween-Revelations table. "The butler."

Yang let out an elephantine _guffaw_ while Ruby choked loudly, a mouthful of milk having made its way to her nose. Weiss winced, in equal parts for the noise, the mess, and the sentiments. Yang never got tired of teasing her for being the rich girl slumming it with 'the lowly plebes', and Weiss had just provided her with a week's worth of ammunition. Not that that would keep Yang from being an incessant flirt the whole time.

"Still though, I feel like you missed out on childhood experience," said Jaune, finishing a sip from his carton of chocolate milk. "It's like when you told me you hadn't seen _Star Wars_. It's just… something I wish I could fix."

Pyrrha smiled softly at that, remembering how Jaune had 'fixed' the aforementioned deficit in her upbringing. The six-and-a-half-hour marathon/slumber party had been enjoyable unto itself, of course, but about halfway through _Empire Strikes Back_ it had been decided that blankets were needed. Nora was in charge of distributing them, and _somehow_ Jaune and Pyrrha ended up being forced to share one.

She'd never gotten the chance to properly thank the fiery pixie for that…

"Well, Miss Nikos, I’d say that _today is your lucky day_ ," declared Yang, leaning over the table at her. "Since we're old enough that people won't give us candy any more-"

"I'm not!" protested Nora and Ruby simultaneously. Yang suppressed a pang of definitely-not-envy.

"-and Dad's out of town Friday, I have _carte blanche_ to throw one hell of a Halloween party."

"Nice to see those French classes haven't been completely wasted on you," interjected Weiss, her tone on the edge of mocking.

"It's the language of love, _mon amour_ ," replied Yang, not missing a beat as her head swiveled 'round. "And I have a knack for learning new tongues." The seductive waggle of her eyebrows was visible from the other end of the cafeteria.

" _Please_ ," shot back Weiss, her attention entirely (and rather conspicuously) devoted to unwrapping a small package of crackers.

"Anyways, you should absolutely come over," said Ruby, circling back to the conversation's original topic. "It's just going to be a few people from class - also maybe Sun, Neptune, you know?" Ruby smiled, putting as much reassurance as she could into the motion. For all the childishness people ascribed to her because of her youth, Ruby had a knack for understanding the way Pyrrha felt about things. What it was like not to fit in.

"Thank you," said Pyrrha, sending a smile Ruby's way while her half-sister tried to find Weiss' leg under the table with her own. "I'll need to double-check, but since it's not a school night I should be able to attend."

"Like _one_ night out is going to ruin your training schedule," replied Nora, polishing off her second plate. Through mechanisms nobody (even Ren) had ever been able to explain, Nora seemed to eat a solid percentage of her body mass with every meal. Then again, she had a metabolism hyperactive enough to burn through pretty much anything. That, and the fact that after Pyrrha she'd spent more time in the gym than any other girl in the school. That girl could _bench_. "Ren slacks off all the time and he still manages to clean up like a ninja on the tournament circuit."

"It's not slacking off," retorted Ren, "it's meditation. And besides, you'll never be able to perform to the best of your abilities if you're mentally or emotionally exhausted."

A lull in the conversation emerged, everyone's attention momentarily concentrated on the meals in front of them. Pyrrha lost herself in the motions of consumption, thinking of nothing rather than the demands of socialization now upon her. Only the cramped quarters of the cafeteria kept her grounded in reality, above all the way her arm and Jaune's tended to brush against one another…

"So what are you going to wear?" asked Weiss as she finished off her plate, her attention re-focused on Pyrrha.

"Wear?"

"Yeah, you know… your costume?" supplied Ruby, like she was talking to a five-year old.

"Oh, um, I might just show up, if that's alright."

" _What?!_ " demanded Yang and Nora at the same time.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha hurriedly apologized. "I've just never been to a costume party before and I don't think there's really anything I can wear that will-"

"Don’t be ridiculous, Pyrrha," said Weiss, interrupting the flustered redhead. Her voice had a sharp and steely edge to it, cold as ice. "We'll find you a perfectly nice costume and you'll be able to enjoy yourself like the rest of us."

"Thank you, but really-"

"I mean there are _tons_ of costumes to choose from," interrupted Yang. "Just think of something you want to be. Sexy French Maid? Slutty Cheerleader? Lady of the Night?"

Ruby let out a distressed whining noise that echoed the one in Pyrrha's head. Yang seemed to take that as a victory.

"Don't scare her, Yang," chided Blake, eyes still on the pages of her book. "There are plenty of perfectly good costumes that don't make you look-"

"-like a streetwalker," said Weiss, completing the sentence. "Not that you'd ever know that from Yang's past parties."

Yang rolled her eyes. "I swear it's like this is a school for nuns," she griped. "But hey, Pyrrha, we can find you something you like, I _promise_. I was going to head out to the costume superstore place after school, we can choose something for you there."

"I have to train in the gym after class today," explained Pyrrha, as Yang's gaze grew increasingly predatory. "I don't want you to have to w-"

"We can wait for you," interrupted Jaune, with an expression of resolve on his face that melted Pyrrha's heart. "Right, guys?"

"You're not getting away _that_ easily," Nora promised.

Pyrrha let out a small sigh, an unforced smile, and resigned herself to her doom.

* * *

" _Girl look at that body_ ," called out Yang, as a freshly-showered Pyrrha emerged from the school. Pyrrha had used the training session as an excuse to sweat her fears into submissions, exhaustion pushing dread from her mind as she'd forced her body to its limits. When she emerged she was still wearing her workout attire, a black sports bra and gym shorts, the unseasonably warm fall - and the virtual absence of any other students - giving her an excuse not to change into something more concealing. "Don't know why you're so stressed out about sexy costumes."

"Because not everyone wants to look as easy as you," answered Blake on Pyrrha's behalf, earning a melodramatically wounded expression from Yang.

" _Et tu, Brutus_?"

Yang and Blake sniped at one another all the way across the parking lot, Blake assuming the role of Yang's foil in Weiss' absence. They arrived at an old and battered minivan - appropriate for Yang's first car - where Weiss, Jaune, Nora, Ruby and Ren had been idling after class. For a moment, Pyrrha was deeply touched that she had seven friends dear enough that they'd wait around for over an hour rather than leave without her.

"Shotgun!" Nora called out.

"Shotgun!" Ruby and Jaune called out a half-second later.

"Nora, you can't be shotgun," Yang corrected, sliding into the driver's seat.

"Why not?" she pouted.

"Because this is a seven-passenger minivan and you have to sit on Ren's lap."

Nora seemed torn for a second, hesitating between the front and back doors, before planting a kiss on Ren's forehead and diving into the seat next to Yang.

Weiss took the seat directly behind Yang, knowing nobody would dare try to sit on _her_ lap, while Ren took the spot behind Nora, presumably in case he needed to stop her from pushing buttons again. Ruby, Blake, Jaune and Pyrrha were left to fight over the back three spots.

"I'm the lightest, so I should probably sit on somebody," Ruby began, as Blake took a window seat. "Blake? Or Pyrrha, let me back up, and you can sit in the middle so-"

"Would everyone in the back just sit down so we can this long-delayed show on the road!" barked Yang from the front, a note of aggravation creeping into her voice. Ruby, having created a human logjam, hurriedly took the window seat opposite Blake, leaving next-in-line Jaune to take the middle. 

"Um, I can sit on the floor here," said Pyrrha, spinning around to face forward. "I don't think anyone will see me if they're driving by so-" Yang took that moment to tap the gas pedal, the jolt of movement sending Pyrrha stumbling backwards, landing with a _thump_ in Jaune's lap. "I'm sorry," Pyrrha hurriedly said, Jaune letting out a weak gasp as she impacted him.

"Don't… don't worry about it," he mumbled back. It was only then that Pyrrha realized she'd been bracing herself on his thigh, and rather high up it at that. She blushed a crimson red, clasping her hands chastely in front of her. Blake rolled her eyes.

"Everyone got their seatbelts on?" asked Yang, as she steered them out of the parking lot. "Except Big Spoon and Little Spoon back there, obviously. Personally I would have bet on Jaune being the Little Spoon but I guess-" Yang's teasing jibes were interrupted by Weiss jabbing her from behind. "Hey, Ice Queen, don't distract the driver. We're eight promising teenagers and I don't want to end up a tragic local news story."

"Seven, and it'll be a tragic local _crime_ story if this trip takes more than ten minutes," grumbled Weiss under her breath.

In some ways, the trip went the way they always did, eight of them stuffed into a car bound for adventure. Ruby gamed on her 3DS, immersing herself in the world of some colorful RPG. Nora changed the music every five minutes. Weiss critiqued Yang's driving, and burned with the humiliation that she didn't yet have a license of her own. Blake gave up trying to read, instead staring lazily out the window, watching the buildings blur past them.

And in some ways the trip was completely different than their usual escapades, if for the minute reason that Pyrrha was seated in Jaune's lap. They spent the first five minutes shifting about, fruitlessly trying to find a position where one wasn't pressing into the other. Jaune's hands kept coming to rest on her hips, only for him to let go of her like she was a flaming iron when he realized what he was doing. Wearing just her workout attire Pyrrha could make out his soft breaths on her skin, taking a strange pleasure in _feeling_ him so close to her. He seemed to keep shuffling her around every few minutes, and a scandalous part of Pyrrha's mind wondered if it had anything to do with the way she was cradled in his lap. And what she might be feeling poking against her…

She didn't dare put words to her relationship with Jaune, as if afraid that calling him her 'boyfriend' would bring reality crashing down. And to her, even 'boyfriend and girlfriend' seemed overly generous. They had barely touched one another, still going through the motions of friendship even as feeling far more powerful burned within them. Pyrrha couldn't even conceptualize how to take things to the next level, her social life so abbreviated and so isolated, every step forward such undiscovered country.

Yang pulled into a sprawling parking lot a half-hour later, in a part of town where land was a lot cheaper and a gargantuan costume store could thus exist. Ruby's face alit with excitement as she saw the giant inflatable monsters swaying lazily in the wind, the youngest girl among them hurrying to explain that they'd been coming here since _forever_ , that the first Halloween costume she could remember had been bought here. Yang tried to feign nonchalance more than her sister, but it was clear that this was a place of nostalgic memories for her as well. As the passengers haphazardly disembarked Pyrrha hurriedly removed an oversized hoodie from her backpack, her torso quickly vanishing within it.

They made their way into the store and proceeded to drift off in different directions. Men's costumes were on a different side of the building, so Ren and Jaune peeled off from them almost immediately. Blake and Weiss had similar sartorial sensibilities when Halloween came 'round, and Ruby had absolutely no interest in enabling whatever costume choice Yang ended up going with.

So Pyrrha found herself alone, wandering aimlessly through the aisles, absent-mindedly rubbing her biceps in an old nervous habit. People fluttered about with a nervous energy, a glint in their eyes as they imagined October 31st. Pyrrha hardly had anything against Halloween, but she found she couldn't lose herself in the atmosphere of enthusiasm, not with the knot coiled in her stomach. Even among friends she felt reservations about showing off too much, the dresses she wore to school dances far longer and more concealing than teenage fashion dictated. She knew she risked being labeled a prude, or a religious nutjob, but-

"Hello, Pyrrha. Any luck so far?" asked Weiss, as the two crossed paths. Despite the differences in their personalities Weiss had always liked Pyrrha, for which Pyrrha was eternally thankful. She doubted she could survive being on the receiving end of the girl's fury.

"Not yet, I'm afraid," replied Pyrrha, perhaps a little morosely. Just walking past all the things she didn't feel comfortable wearing was beginning to depress her. That treacherous part of her subconscious was wondering if she really _was_ weird, that _of course_ Jaune would rather go out with a girl who felt comfortable wearing above-the-knee skirts or a dress that showed a little cleavage.

Pyrrha shook her head a little to clear the thought from her mind, the gesture earning her a raised eyebrow from Weiss, but she tacitly declined to comment. Instead, Weiss began preparing some comment about homework, before she spotted something over Pyrrha's shoulder. Her eyes darted back to Pyrrha's, and she mouthed a single word. " _Run_." Pyrrha stood, dumbfounded, and the window to escape was closed.

"Weiss, _l'amour de ma vie_! And Pyrrha! So what did you settle on? Sexy pirate wench? Sexy Spartan warrior? Sexy Pikachu?"

" _Please_ tell me that last one's not real," implored Weiss. She saw the grin on the blonde's face. "It is. Wow." She could actually _feel_ the loss of her faith in humanity.

"You can be worse than Blake sometimes, you know," replied Yang, rolling her eyes. "Anyways, you've got a bag, so what did you go with?"

Weiss sighed and passed the package to Yang, the costume it contained sealed in transparent wrapping.

"Elsa? From _Frozen_! Ha!" Weiss blushed a little and snatched the package back from Yang's hands, scowling furiously. "You're going to go as the _literal_ Ice Queen."

"I happened to _like_ that movie," Weiss spat back. "I find the complexities of Elsa's character to be very interesting. Not to mention the symbolism between Elsa's emotional coldness and her ability to-"

Yang waved a hand airily. "I _know_ , you told me, and I agree. It's just no _Mulan_." Yang paused, staring off into the distance, before she jumped straight into song. " _Mister I'llllll… make a man…out of you_!" The smile on her face was ear-to-ear. "Pyrrha knows what I'm talking about."

"It _is_ one of my favorite workout songs," the star athlete confessed.

"So _that's_ what's running through your head every time you drag Jaune to the gym," Yang extrapolated, a predatory grin on her face. Weiss gently slapped her shoulder. "Fine, fine. But Weiss, what do I have to do to get you to be the sexy prisoner to my sexy police officer?"

"Get a real job and move out of your Dad's place, for starters." Yang scowled at that. "And besides, I almost always go as a princess for Halloween, it's a tradition of mine."

"So one year did you go as-"

"No, I did not go as Princess Jasmine," answered Weiss, dryly.

"You take all the fun out of teasing you," sulked Yang.

"The horror, the horror," Weiss replied, her voice deadpan.

Hitting a brick wall, Yang re-focused her attention on Pyrrha. "So anyways, I think I found a costume for you," said Yang, forcibly taking Pyrrha's hand in hers and dragging her down the aisles. Weiss followed, out of a sense of either responsibility or morbid curiosity, nobody was entirely sure. Yang reached up and plucked a transparent bag off the shelf. "Ta-da!"

"Princess Leia… slave costume?"

"Yang, don't be cruel," said Weiss, her tone slightly more flat and serious than her usual _tsundere_ -style critiques.

"Cruel? _Au contraire_ , Weiss. I think this is one surefire way to put the good ship _Arkos_ to sea."

"Arkos?" asked Pyrrha, searching her admittedly shallow knowledge of pop culture references.

"Yeah, it's what we call the relationship between-" Yang abruptly stopped talking as she met Weiss' eyes, the death glare so icy cold it chilled her blood. "Never mind. Point is, it's an amazing costume, you can definitely pull it off, and most importantly, it's going to fit in really well."

"What do you mean, 'fit in'?" asked Pyrrha, her eyes still transfixed by the model on the packaging. The outfit did not exactly leave much to the imagination.

"Well….."

* * *

"I really can't decide," said Jaune, swaying back in forth between two costumes. "You know what you're going as, Ren?"

"No," answered Ren. "But Nora will make up her mind soon enough."

"Hello, losers," called out Yang affectionately, rounding the corner to where Jaune was deliberating. "Watcha thinking about? Just a heads-up, Ren, I voted for the sexy gladiator costume." Ren sighed. " _Believe me_ , you'll wish I won."

"I'm trying to go with something classic sci-fi, you know what I mean?" said Jaune. Yang - to her own dismay - did indeed, having spent more than one white-knuckled car ride listening to Jaune explain why he still hadn't gotten laid. Or rather, explain that while a lot of people said the writers made a mistake saying the _Millennium Falcon_ made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs, since a parsec is a unit of _distance_ rather than _time_ , but actually if they'd read A.C. Crispin's books they'd have realized that the Kessel Run necessitated flying near black holes, so the _Falcon_ 's speed enabled it to take a shorter route, therefore reducing the distance…

What Pyrrha saw in this two-legged geek of a man, Yang would never entirely know.

"Trying to decide between Han Solo and Luke Skywalker," Jaune prattled on. "And if Luke then _which_ Luke? I mean the white tunic from _ANH_ is pretty iconic, but I also really like the black one from _Jedi_. But maybe I should try going for the 'Red Five' look. Probably would need to make a helmet myself though-"

"Go with the Han Solo one," Yang answered, determination in her voice.

"Really? Why?"

"Because the makeout session is going to get _really_ uncomfortable otherwise."

* * *

The line for the cash was long, winding between aisles and moving forward at the slowest of shuffles. Pyrrha clutched her bag, the unease in her chest threatening to morph into mild nausea with each passing minute.

"So what did you end up going with?" asked Ruby with that innocent curiosity of hers, sliding into line beside Pyrrha, shortly followed by Blake. Pyrrha opened her mouth to speak but couldn't make the words come out. She held up the bag for Ruby to see instead. "Wow that's… something I would not have guessed," she said. Eventually.

"Yang said it is something of a… _favorite_ … for science-fiction enthusiasts," explained Pyrrha.

"She thinks Jaune will like it," translated Blake, causing Ruby and Pyrrha to blush equal shades of red.

"I just wanted to try something a little different," Pyrrha said to Ruby.

"And it…'includes collar and leash'…" said Ruby, quoting the packaging in a murmur. "Well, um, nice to see that you're feeling better about the whole bikini thing." Blake shot Ruby a furious glare as the words left her mouth, and as a look of panic flashed across Pyrrha's face Ruby realized that she had _seriously_ fucked up.

It was one of the few things the octet of friends almost never talked about, and if they did, it was _very_ circuitously or _very_ briefly. Some time ago - back when Yang was still debating if she liked boys or girls and Ren and Nora kept things PG-13 - photos of Pyrrha had started appearing online. At first they were just photos from her events, screencaps from local news and the like. Then photos of her at school had started to pop up, photos of her bending over as she went through her locker, or licking a popsicle beside Nora on a hot spring day. Of her ass as she did squats in the gym. She'd emasculated more then a few men on her way to becoming the school's undisputed star athlete, and this had been someone's petty revenge. Before long half the boys in the school had checked it out, and more than a few had left comments. How hot and slutty she looked, what _exactly_ they wanted to do to her. Though a few said quite the opposite, that she was some muscle-bound freak of femininity, that they'd _never_ want to touch anyone like her, ever. Huddled alone in her room, scrolling through image after image long after she should have stopped, Pyrrha couldn't tell which made her cry worse.

The site and its fallout had evolved into a local scandal worthy of press coverage, the kind of thing that mandated an address from the principal and editorials in the newspapers worrying about the state of today's youth. By the time the dust had settled Pyrrha would have demanded she change schools, had it not been for her newly-made friends. It was only through Ruby and Yang's constant pestering that Pyrrha had been convinced to leave her house after classes. And she'd only felt comfortable returning to the school gym when Jaune had mentioned he'd resolved to work out more. He gave her something to look at besides the sideways glances tossed her way, at the very least. On an end-of-year school trip to the beach Pyrrha had explained why she didn't wear bikinis anymore, not when there was a camera in every phone, memories of her anonymous classmates' comments still etched into her mind. Her friends had learned to leave it at that.

"Could you…. could you hold my spot for me?" asked Pyrrha, not waiting for a response before she sprinted into a neighboring aisle.

Blake and Ruby both took several seconds to process what had happened. "…It's not your fault, Ruby," said Blake, when it became clear that Pyrrha wasn't going to be returning anytime soon.

"I know," Ruby responded, unconvincingly. "I just wish… things were easier for Pyrrha."

Her fingers curled around her Red Riding Hood costume, and the fairy tale ending it had promised.

* * *

The worst thing about being in a store was that there was nowhere to be alone. Pyrrha couldn't leave, not with the unpaid costume in her hands, and she couldn't drop it without admitting defeat. Without admitting that - yes - she would always be the prudish girl, that athletic attire notwithstanding she'd never feel as comfortable as Yang was showing off her body, being the kind of girl boys really _wanted_ to be with. Jaune might like her well enough but she _obviously_ wasn’t his type, not with the way she always wore opaque tights with her skirts and her blouses properly buttoned up. Not when she was still afraid of leering gazes and predatory eyes. And she wasn't willing to… wasn't _able to_ change… which meant…

Pyrrha figured she looked like a madwoman, roaming up and down the aisles without aim or purpose, but it was the only thing she could think to do. She eventually settled in as close to a dark corner as she could find, tucking herself in a gap between shelves where customers could breeze by her without a sideways glance. She didn't sob or shout, because that was simply not how Pyrrha Nikos had been raised to deal with her feelings. So she just clutched at her arms and bit down on her lip, bracing against the emotional waves until The Invincible Girl could resurface.

"Fu- ah!, there you are," called out a voice, and Pyrrha squeezed her eyes shut even harder. _Not now_ … "Everyone's checked out already. Blake just said something like you hadn't made up your mind about your costume… she was kinda vague."

"I'm sorry Jaune," Pyrrha managed to get out, pouring steel into her voice to keep it from wavering. She was stared steadfastly at the linoleum tiles beneath her, wanting all the world to sink into them. "I was just… having trouble making a choice." She raised her head and flashed that camera-ready smile of hers, letting out a faint laugh as she did.

"Oh, I thought I saw you with something earlier," said Jaune, the uncertainty dripping from his words.

"That was… this one," said Pyrrha, handing over the bagged costume to Jaune without meeting his eyes. It was an impulsive move, a thoughtless one, made simply because she couldn't think of what next to do, so she went with telling the truth.

Jaune's jaw dropped a little as his eyes played across the image, following the chain from the model's collared throat down between her breasts. He shuffled in place, suddenly acutely aware that Pyrrha was no longer staring at the floor but watching him with singular intensity.

"Do you like it?" she asked, softly.

Jaune's first instinct was to lie. Because the _last_ thing he wanted was to come across as was one of those creepy nerds with a wall full of unclothed women, whose opinions on films and anime was determined solely by the amount of skin depicted. _Yes_ , maybe he had a weakness for fighting games where women fought in stylized bikinis, or TV movies where the actresses wore colored body paint and little else, but he wasn't-

"Yeah," Jaune confessed, his pulse pounding as he did. "It's kind of one of those fanboy sex symbols, you know?" He knew Pyrrha _didn't_ know, not really, but said it all the same.

"Do you… want me to wear it for Halloween?" Pyrrha asked tentatively. It felt like she was walking a blade's edge, and she had no idea which way she would fall when he answered.

"I guess? I mean I ended up going with this Han Solo costume so we'd kind of match…" He spoke, as if treading through a minefield. But before he so much as glanced at Pyrrha he hurriedly appended, "But only if you want to! Obviously!"

"It's the kind of thing a good girlfriend would do for her geeky boyfriend, wouldn't she?" said Pyrrha, leaning ever-so-slightly into Jaune as she did. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest, hear his breathing in her ear. It was nice.

"Pyrrha…" Jaune fumbled for words, unable to organize his thoughts until he took a half-step back. "What costume do you actually want to wear?"

Without thinking, Pyrrha realized that she was standing right in front of it, because _of course_ she'd gone for a costume they'd keep tucked away in the back where nobody _normal_ would pass by. "I kind of like… this one," she said, gesturing softly with her head.

Whatever Jaune had been expecting, it admittedly hadn't been _that_. Inside the bag was a women's Pilgrim costume, and not of the sexy variety. The model on the label wore a black-and-white dress that went down to her ankles, an apron around her waist and poofy sleeves that covered half her forearms. On her head was a white bonnet, knotted beneath her chin. It was quite literally Puritanical, on the other end of the erotic spectrum from the Slave Leia costume Pyrrha still clutched in her hands.

"I think that's a Thanksgiving costume, Pyrrha," said Jaune, his befuddlement audible.

"I know," Pyrrha murmured. "I just… I saw a video of some people who dressed up as Christmas carolers for Halloween, and went singing door-to-door." Fingernails dug into skin. "I know this isn't quite as good, but I thought it would be funny if for my first Halloween I dressed up for the wrong holiday."

"That's… actually kinda clever, Pyrrha," said Jaune. He wanted to slide an arm around her shoulder, but it was too easy to visualize Pyrrha shaking him off, running away in response to his trespass. So he kept his arms at his sides, and just drifted a half-step closer.

"You know that's not the only reason, don't you?" asked Pyrrha, though Jaune remained silent. "I like this costume because I don't have to show off a lot." She swallowed, loudly. "God, even _Ruby_ is more comfortable than I am."

"Pyrrha… _I don't care_." In retrospect, Jaune might have gone with another combination of words, due to the diverging interpretations that one could follow. But they snapped Pyrrha's head up all the same, and then he had no choice but to press forward. "If that's what you feel comfortable wearing then I don't care what it is. I know you don't really go to parties much anyways, so I'm just happy you feel like spending time with us."

"With you," Pyrrha murmured.

"Huh?"

"I want to spend more time with _you_ , Jaune," she said, loud and clear this time. She narrowed the gap between them once more. "I have some incredible friends, Jaune, but there's only _one_ I want to get closer to."

They'd ended up hugging, somehow, limbs slowly drifting about until they ended up entwined. Jaune was a hair taller than her, and she tucked her head into the nook of his neck.

"Come on," Jaune murmured, as he listened to Pyrrha's breaths resume their natural, gentle rhythm. "Let's go buy that costume."

Pyrrha snorted a little, reluctantly peeling herself off of Jaune. "I'm not going to do that, Jaune," Pyrrha said, though her tone wasn't as somber as it had been moments prior. "I'll look silly and strange. I… I'll try to find something like Weiss' princess dress. Do you want to help me look?"

"I think I might have a better idea," mused Jaune, surveying the wall of costumes. "But first, I need to get a refund on something."

* * *

[Jaune and Pyrrha's costumes](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CUyjhtnWEAAf4FL.png)

"Oh my god you two are the most adorable things ever I just squeee _eeeeeee_ -"

Ruby's voice rose out of Pyrrha's auditory range, and Jaune winced in pain beside her.

"Jaune… Pyrrha," said Blake, greeting them as they stepped in the Xiao Long household, converted by its blondest resident into a party den. "Glad you could make it."

"Thanks I…" Pyrrha wasn't quite sure what to say, and found herself fiddling with the fringes of her apron. That she actually _had_ an apron to toy with, though, made her happy. So she smiled. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

They stood out, everyone had to admit, a monochromatic pair in a room full of color. Pyrrha's pilgrim costume still felt strange and alien on her body, though she privately she loved the feel of it enveloping her. Her red hair spilled out of the cap, incapable of being tamed even in puritanical garb, and her eyes seemed to shimmer in the room's dim lighting. Jaune stood beside her as her masculine counterpart, wearing a black tunic and pants, a buckled hat on his blond head.

"Thanks for doing this for me, Jaune," murmured Pyrrha. Her words were barely audible over the Achieve Men track pounding out of the speakers (she actually recognized it as the hit breakup song _BrownOUT_ , a consequence of spending either enough or too much time with Yang). Pyrrha slid up beside Jaune, coiling herself around his arm. "It's nice being here."

"It certainly is interesting," Jaune concurred, surveying the landscape. Ruby being adorable in her Red Riding Hood costume, Weiss doing her best to look regal in an off-the-shelf costume, Ren wearing… well really several strategically-placed straps and not much else. Yang and her…. wait, where was-"

"Don’t move an inch!" Yang yelled above the music, the jagged cadence of her voice suggesting she'd been putting her fake ID to good use. "Vale City Police Department, freeze!"

Despite herself, Pyrrha giggled. In a tight blue top, jet black short shorts and a pair of aviator glasses, Yang was having _way_ to much fun with her costume, her blonde hair a tangled mess like it had taken on a life of its own. "Oh no, officer, you've caught us," Pyrrha replied with a laugh.

"It's always the pretty ones," Yang griped, doing her best (mildly inebriated) impersonation of a grizzled police detective. "You should've known better than to engage in public displays of affection!"

"Wait, Yang, what are-" Jaune began to ask, as Yang reached for a pair of steel handcuffs at her hip. Before he could make a move to put some distance between either Pyrrha or Yang he felt the ersatz officer's hand around his wrist, then cold metal against his skin.

Pyrrha didn't even try to resist, gamily standing around for Yang to finish tightening the cuff around Jaune before letting the 'officer' take her own arm in turn. She looked up at Yang just long enough to catch the teasing grin on her face, before Yang locked the cuff around her wrist, chaining her and Jaune together.

"Oh no," moaned Weiss, half-tripping over her Princess dress in a hurry to get over to them.

"There's a key, right?" asked Jaune, trying to recapture Yang's attention as she went in search of more consumables.

"I've been looking for it for over an hour," Weiss whined. "I'm pretty sure it's either down a vent or in her thong at this point. And I'm only willing to explore one of those."

" _Bow chicka wow wow_!" Yang called out from across the room, apparently having superhuman hearing when it came to poorly-phrased sentences.

"Let's worry about that later," said Pyrrha, tugging Jaune to a table covered in drinks. There was something adorable about the way he half-stumbled into her. "I think I'm in the mood for a rather _grand_ evening."

By the end of the night, Pyrrha was beginning to appreciate what all the excitement was about.

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure: I am not presently a teenage girl. Once again, trying to improve myself as an author by writing things a little more unfamiliar to me, both in style and substance. For that reason, I would be IMMENSELY grateful if you left a comment, even if it's just a single sentence. It makes me happy probably out of proportion to the way it should. Were Pyrrha and Jaune believable? Was their relationship interesting? Pyrrha's struggles within the realm of plausibility? Good banter with RWBY + JNPR?
> 
> If you're the kind of person interested in the author's thoughts, here's my spiel. First, I happen to find those women's Pilgrim outfits incredibly cute, Pyrrha is Best Girl, and mojojo drew the two together. In retrospect, not sure why it took me this long.
> 
> Not entirely sure where I got the idea for Pyrrha being really self-conscious about showing too much skin, but it kind of feels right. Given how many issues Pyrrha has dealing with her celebrity in her teenage years, it didn't strike me as beyond the pale to imagine that her modesty would be a plausible counter-reaction. I hope it was clear that this is not because she's unhappy with her body, but just because she's weary of being leered at. Have no idea why I made Yang use so much French.
> 
> Stole more than a few costume ideas from "A Beacon Halloween":  
> http://dishwasher1910.deviantart.com/art/A-Beacon-Halloween-491035300
> 
> Anyways, comment again with your thoughts, suggestions, advice, theories, rival interpretations…


End file.
